Sixteen
by rarachie
Summary: When an accident takes place in the Magic Box, the members of the Scooby Gang are transported back in time to their sixteen year old bodies. Wackiness insues. Please R&R.
1. Magic Lamps

Disclaimer: I don't own any of the characters associated with Buffy the Vampire Slayer.  
  
A/N: I realize that this chapter is short but I was having problems getting it to flow right, or at all. This story is a response to a challenge that can be found on I will also post the challenge at the end of the story. Again, sorry for the shortness of the first chapter. Please review and let me know what you think!  
  
Chapter 1:  
  
"Where is that amulet?!" Anya asked herself outloud as she tapped her pencil on her clipboard. She gave a heavy sigh, long past frustrated at this point. The Scooby Gang had been taking inventory in the Magic Box for the past four hours, and it seemed as though they would never get through the list of materials that had arrived the day before. Looking up, she asked, "Has anyone seen an amulet that looks like a golden eagle?"  
  
"Nope," replied Willow and Tara at once, neither bothering to look up.  
  
"Sorry," Buffy said in her most helpful tone.  
  
"Here it is!" exclaimed Xander from across the room. "I got it!" He swiped it off the counter, accidently knocking something over. A metalic clang sounded from the floor, startling the others.  
  
"Good going, Xand," Willow chided. "You might have broken something."  
  
Xander snatched the object from the floor and held it up for the others to see. It was a golden colored lamp. "It's not broken, see? Hey, do you think a genie will pop out if I rub it?"  
  
"I wouldn't try it," Giles advised. Xander, of course, ignored him. He took the lamp in one hand and rubbed it vigoursly with his sleeve. The group waited for a few moments, but nothing happened. It seemed that the lamp was faulty.  
  
"Oh well," Xander said, dissapointed. "It's not like I really expected anything to happen."  
  
Just then the lamp begun to vibrate in his hand. Surprised, Xander dropped it once again onto the floor, this time breaking off the handle. The lamp continued to vibrate as a thick cloud of grey smoke poured out of its spout. The smoke formed into a hideous grey creature about eight feet tall, sporting a long black pony tail and an ancient Chinese robe.  
  
"Huh," Xander commented. "I thought genies were supposed to be blue, like in Aladdin."  
  
"That's not a genie, you idiot!" whispered Anya. "It's a Cabeword demon."  
  
"Oh. I knew that."  
  
The demon's booming voice soon interrupted their conversation. "Fool! Why have you awoken me from my peaceful rest?"  
  
Xander trembled in fear. "It was an accident?"  
  
"An accident? It was NOT an accident. You intentionally rubbed the lamp, and for your foolish decision you shall be punished."  
  
Anya took a step forward, ready to defend Xander. "We're really sorry. We'll fix your lamp for you right away, just please don't punish Xander for his mistake. He truly didn't know any better."  
  
The Cabeword demon stared at the broken handle of the lamp on the floor. "You have broken my lamp?! For this you all shall pay!" The demon waved his hand and suddenly all was black 


	2. Sixteen?

A/N: Sorry for the last chapter's cliffhanger. I'll try not to do that again for awhile at least. Special thanks to xanya-forever for being my first reviewer! (Love your name, by the way!) And, um, maybe I'm just being extra blonde today, but what's a cluedo? It's a requirement for this challenge but I can't put it in if I don't know what it is...  
  
A/N 2: I was asked by a few people, and sorry for not putting it sooner, but the pairings are... B/S, W/O with a little W/T, and X/A. Also, the first chapter took place sometime in the sixth or seventh season and the rest takes place when they're sixteen, so probably in the second season.  
  
Chapter 2:  
  
Buffy felt a dull ache in the back of her head. Slowly, she opened her eyes and sat up. Looking around, she was relieved to find herself in a familiar surrounding. Xander and Giles were lying next to the bookcase off to the right, and Willow was sprawled out on the floor next to the cage that Oz was currently occupying.  
  
"Wait," Buffy said out loud to herself. "What are we doing in the Sunnydale library?"  
  
"I don't know," Oz replied, startling Buffy. "You were all here sleeping on the floor when I un-werewolved. Would you let me out of this cage now?"  
  
"Um, sure thing," Buffy said, too confused to find a reason not to. She pulled the keyring down from its hook and unlocked Oz's cage.  
  
"Thanks, Buff."  
  
"No problem."  
  
Buffy stood cluelessly and watched as Oz walked over to where Willow was lying. He pushed a lock of her long red hair behind her ear and quietly said, "Willow, baby, wake up."  
  
Willow stirred and slowly opened her eyes. "Oz?" she asked, just as perplexed as Buffy. "What are you doing here?"  
  
"Well, there was a full moon last night. I always stay here on a full moon night. I'm a little curious, though, to know what you all are doing here."  
  
"Oh man!" Xander said loudly from across the room. "I'm having a nother library dream again, aren't I? I hate reoccurring dreams."  
  
"Okay, there is something odd going on here," Oz commented, beginning to become very confused himself.  
  
"We shouldn't be here. I mean, the library was destroyed years ago. Let's wake up Giles," Buffy decided. "Maybe he can tell us what's going on."  
  
"Sounds like a plan to me," Willow consented.  
  
Xander began to shake Giles forcefully. "Hey G-man! Wake up!"  
  
"Xander, I thought I told you to never call me that again!" Giles snapped, coming to life. He looked around, blinked a few times, and took off his glasses. He then cleaned them furiously before placing them back on his face, taking a second glance around, and muttering, "Oh dear."  
  
"'Oh dear' is never good," Xander commented. "Does that mean we aren't in a dream?"  
  
Giles shook his head. "It seems to me as though we've been transported back in time. Seeing as how Oz is here and we're in the old library, I'm going to take a wild guess and say that we're back in your old high school days."  
  
"Wait, you guys are from the future?" Oz asked. "How far in the future? How come I'm not from the future too?"  
  
Giles was about to speak but Buffy decided to take over for this part of the expla nation. "Wills and Xander and I are twenty-one. Or at least we were. How old are we now?"  
  
"Sixteen."  
  
"Damn!" Buffy swore. "Junior year. That means we get to relive the Angelus days all over again."  
  
"Look at the bright side!" Xander stated happily. "Now you can kill Spike 'cause he'll be chipless!"  
  
Willow became worried. "Speaking of, where is Spike? He was in the Magic Box with us. And so was Tara, and Anya."  
  
Giles contemplated the situation for a moment. "Well," he began slowly. "Since we arrived in the place that we would have been in a few years ago, I would only find it safe to assume that they're in the same places that they would have been. So Tara is still with her family, Spike is probably gallivanting around with Drusilla and Angelus, and Anya is off wherever she was before coming to Sunnydale."  
  
"Okay," Buffy said, taking charge. "So the first thing we need to do is get the gang back together. Does everybody agree?" The group gave a mutual nod. "Okay, good. So lets see... Oz, why don't you go get Cordelia and bring her here so we can explain the situation to her and see if she's willing to help. Xander, you can summon Anya and get her here, right? Wills, you should probably give Tara a call, and then you and Giles can start with the research."  
  
"What will you do?" Willow asked.  
  
Buffy took a deep breath. "I'm going to find Spike." 


	3. Stuck

A/N: Thanks to my reviewers who pointed out my typo in chapter two, about Spike being in the libraray. I'm pretty sure I've got that fixed now, and I'm sorry for any confusion I might have caused. And special thanks to Ultrawoman for reading my fic. She's an awesome author, and if you haven't read her stuff already I would highly suggest doing so.  
  
Chapter 3  
  
Spike awoke in a cold, dark room. He sat up and looked around only to discover that he was completely alone in what appeared to be an abandoned building. Sitting next to the bed he had been lying on was a very familiar- looking wheelchair, and on the seat of the wheelchair there was a peice of paper. Inscribed on the paper was a short note.  
  
"Dearest William,  
  
Druisilla and I have gone out for a bite to eat. Maybe we'll bring something back for you. Or maybe not.  
  
Angelus."  
  
"Oh bloody hell!" Spike swore, realizing that the wheelchair was his. "Please tell me I can walk. At least let me be able to walk, because I am NOT going through this again," he begged whatever higher power might be listening. Slowly he stood up, letting out a sigh of relief as no sharp pain shot down his back or legs. It appeared that he could walk perfectly fine, although apparently Angelus and Dru didn't know about it yet. "What's going on?" he asked himself out loud.  
  
Spike walked across the room and peered out of the window. It was just after dawn, which brought both good and bad news to Spike's mind, the good news being that Angelus and Dru wouldn't be able to return to bother him for awhile and the bad news being that he himself could not excape and find Buffy until nightfall. And that's what Spike planned to do, find Buffy.  
  
* * * * * * * * * * *  
  
"Any luck?" Willow asked as Buffy returned to the library an hour later.  
  
"Nope," she replied, plopping down in a chair. "He's probably holed up somewhere hiding from the sun. How about you guys? What happened while I was gone?"  
  
The rest of the gang came and sat down around the table that Buffy and Willow were occupying.  
  
"Well," Oz began. "I found Cordelia."  
  
"As if THAT wasn't obvious," Cordelia said with a roll of her eyes.  
  
Buffy just ignored her. "Willow?"  
  
"I got ahold of Tara," Willow told the group. "She's with her family, just as Giles suspected. At first she was really confused, but she's okay now that I've explained the situation to her. We're supposed to call her if anything new comes up, but otherwise she's just going act normal so her family doesn't expect anything."  
  
"Good," Buffy said. "Xander?"  
  
"I found the spell for summoning Anya but I wanted to wait until everyone was here before I did anything. Mind if I start now?" No one made any protestations. Xander pulled a box of matches out of his pocket and struck it. He then lit a candle and placed it on the table. "Anyanka, I summon thee to do my vengence." he recited.  
  
"That's it?" Buffy asked in a whisper.  
  
Xander blew out the match. "Yep," he replied as a poof of smoke apeared before him. In a few seconds Anya appeared out of hte smoke.  
  
"THERE you guys are!" Anya exclaimed. "I wondered what had happened to you all. Guess what? I'm a vengence demon again!"  
  
"We know Ayn," Xander said. "I'm the one who summoned you."  
  
Anya pouted. "Oh, I knew that." She thought for a moment. "You aren't supposed to summon me unless you want to take vengence on somebody. You know that, right?  
  
"Anya," Giles addressed her, "it's important that we all stay together as a group. In case you haven't noticed, we've been transported back in time and we need to find a way to return to our own time, and soon."  
  
"Uh oh," Xander said. "That doesn't sound good. What happens if we don't return to our own time soon enough?"  
  
"According to the books Willow and I have been going through, when a Cabeword demon casts someone back or forward in time that person has one week to return to where they came from before time itself takes action and the person is essentially removed from time altogether."  
  
Everyone sat in silence for a moment. "So basically we have a week to get back or we disapear?"  
  
"Exactly."  
  
"Well, how do we get back then?" asked Xander.  
  
Giles paused, taking his glasses off and wiping them on a cloth and then replacing them back on his face. Finally, he answered Xander's question. "I don't know." 


	4. High School

A/N: Sorry it took so long for me to get this up! I spent the other weekend at a Youth Convention in Seattle, and I've had tons of homework for the past two weeks, plus SAT's this morning, so I haven't had a whole lot of time. Thanks for all of your reviews though!  
  
Chapter 4  
  
The Scooby gang spent the next hour studying furiously, yet never finding anything helpful. Xander had nearly fallen asleep three times and Willow was silently threatening to strangle Cordelia if she didn't shut up.  
  
"This is completely useless," Cordelia complained. "Why do I need to help you guys research? I never find anything usefull anyhow."  
  
Willow slammed her book shut in frustration. "Do you really have anything else to do?"  
  
Cordelia glanced at her watch. "Well, first period starts in about eight minutes."  
  
Buffy looked up, giving her full attention to Cordelia. "First period?"  
  
"Yeah, you know, the first class of the school day? The one that I can't afford to be tardy to because I don't want to end up in Saturday school?"  
  
"You have GOT to be kidding me," Buffy said, looking skyward.  
  
"Wait a second here," Xander said. "Not only are we back in time like five years and we only have one week to get back to our original time or we disapear, but now we have to go to school on top of it all?"  
  
"Duh," Cordelia said. "I could have told you that a long time ago. You're sixteen, you're in a school, you have to go to class. It's not rocket science."  
  
"Thank you Cordelia! We get it!" Giles said, exasperated. "Everyone go to their respective first period classes right now so I can research in silence!"  
  
Stunned at the sudden outburst, the gang quickly exited the library.  
  
Once out in the hall, Buffy turned to Xander and asked, "Do you remember what class I have first?"  
  
Xander shook his head in the negative. "You remember mine?"  
  
"Nope. I just remember sleeping."  
  
"You are completely hopeless," Willow chided her friend. "Buff, you have chemistry with Cordelia, Xander has history, I have advanced trigonometry, and then we all meet back up for language arts together second period."  
  
Xander shrugged. "That sounds good."  
  
"What sounds good?" asked a commanding voice behind the gang, causing them all to jump. Principal Snyder stood there tapping his foot impatiently.  
  
"Just, um, going to class..." Buffy told him truthfully.  
  
Principal Snyder gave her a judging glance. Not able to find anything wrong with the situation he said, "That's probably the best place for you. Go and learn something. But remember, I'm keeping my eye on you Summers. I know there's something you're not telling me."  
  
Buffy groaned, whispering, "I hate highschool," as she and the rest of the gang split up to go to their own respective classes. 


	5. Maybe?

A/N: Hey guys! I know it's been awhile *looks guilty* and I have absolutely no excuses this time. I'm just a lazy bum! Perhaps for my New Year's resolution I should try to update more often! We'll just have to see how that goes, huh? Be optimistic everyone, it could happen.  
  
Chapter 5  
  
The Scooby Gang managed to make it through the school day, if only barely. Thankfully Willow still remembered both her's and Buffy's old locker combinations, and Cordelia knew Xander's, so they at least had access to all of their old books and other school supplies. Buffy hardly rememebered any of the materials her teachers tried to teach her and nearly got a detention for not having done a homework assignment. Thankfully, however, no one had any other run-ins with Principal Snyder.  
  
After the end of sixth period everyone met back up in the library for another group discussion.  
  
"Well, it looks like we're all here," Buffy said, taking charge. Everyone nodded in obvious agreement. "Giles, did you find anything while we were in class?"  
  
Giles pulled his glasses off his face and began to clean them. "No, not really." Everyone let out an audible groan.  
  
"Hey, I have an idea!" Xander exclaimed. "I don't know why we didn't think of it before!" Everyone stared at him waiting for him to continue. "Anya here is a demon. She grants wishes. We could wish to go back to our normal time!"  
  
Buffy wrinkled her brow. "Yeah, how come we haven't tried that?"  
  
"Because," Anya started, standing up from her seat next to Giles, "I'm a VENGENCE demon. I can't grant your wish unless it's one of vengence, and you have nobody to get revenge on."  
  
"She's right," Giles agreed. "It'd never work."  
  
Xander snapped his fingers. "Drats!"  
  
The gang sat in silence for several moments, no one able to come up with any more ideas. Suddenly Buffy broke the silence with a loud gasp.  
  
"Something wrong Buff?" Willow asked.  
  
Buffy looked up at her. "I just realized... I'd better get home before my mom becomes worried. My mom. Do you think she'll really be there?"  
  
"Well, it'd make sense for her to be."  
  
Buffy collected all of her backpack and stray books quickly. "Giles, I've gotta go. I have to see her. Bye guys, give me a call later if you find anything." She ran out of the room as quickly as possible, down the street and towards her home where she hoped beyond hope that her mother awaited. 


	6. Mom!

Chapter 6  
  
"Mom?" Buffy called catiously as she stepped through the front door of her house. "Are you home?"  
  
"I'm in the kitchen Buffy!" she heard a voice answer her. Buffy dropped her back next to the coat rack and rushed into the kitchen, nearly knocking into her mother. She threw her arms around Joyce and pulled her into a tight hug.  
  
Joyce, a little surprised, hugged her daughter back lightly. "Are you okay? Did something bad happen at school today?"  
  
Buffy quickly wiped a tear from the corner of her eye. "No mom, everything's great!" Joyce looked like she didn't believe her daughter. "What? A girl can't be excited to see her mom every once in a while?"  
  
"Well, I suppose," Joyce said a little skeptically. "I'm just surprised is all. You're acting like I died or something."  
  
Buffy let out a loud laugh. "What a silly thing to think! Why would you think that?" Buffy searched her brain for anything to change the subject to. "So where's Dawn? Is she home yet?" she asked, realizing her mistake just as the words left her mouth.  
  
"I don't know... who's Dawn?"  
  
"Oh Dawn, you know, the neghbor's cat. She comes over all the time. I'm surprised you haven't seen her!"  
  
"Uh huh. Why don't you get upstairs and start on your homework, and I'll bring you a glass of milk and some cookies before I leave for the gallorie. Okay?"  
  
"Sounds great mom!" Buffy said, giving Joyce one last hug before rushing upstairs.  
  
The second Buffy reached her bedroom she grabbed her cordless phone. She dilaled Willow's number hoping that her friend had made it home by now. A voice answered on the fifth ring. "Hello?"  
  
"Wills, she's here!"  
  
"Really? That's great!" Willow replied.  
  
Buffy thought for a moment. "Umm, Will? Do you remember anything about Shakespeare's Macbeth?"  
  
"Yes, a little. You want help on some of your homework?"  
  
"Uh huh!" Buffy said emphatically. "I don't remember a single thing at all! I thought school was supposed to teach us all of these things that we'd need later in life. Well, I'm twenty-two years old and I've never needed to know ANYTHING about Macbeth."  
  
Willow laughed. "I know, but it's really interesting! You'll enjoy it once you get into it, I promise."  
  
"If you say so. What time do you want to come over? I was thinking that maybe if you and Xander got her around six we could do my homework and when my mom leaves we could go patrol or something. Man, it's so weird to have to worry about my mom catching me leaving the house at night!"  
  
"Sounds like a plan," Willow said. "I'll call Xander and have him meet us around six-ish."  
  
Buffy smiled. "Great. I'm gonna go down stairs and hang out with my mom for awhile. Later!"  
  
Both girls hung up. Buffy could not believe her luck... a chance to hang out with her mom! At least something good was coming from all of this. 


	7. Boquet

Chapter 7  
  
Buffy was in the kitchen helping her mom to pick up the dishes when someone knocked on the front door.  
  
"I've got it, Buffy," Joyce said to her daughter. "Finish rinsing off these dishes for me."  
  
"Sure thing, Mom!" Buffy said with a smile. Joyce gave her a funny look as she headed for the front door. Her daughter had never been this willing to do anything around the house. Normally Joyce was bombarded with whining and complaints the moment she asked her daughter to do any chore, no matter how menial the task.  
  
Joyce opened the front door to reveal Buffy's two best friends, Willow and Xander. The redhead had one hand behind her back, as if hiding something from the older woman. "Hi Joyce!" Willow said enthusiastically. "How are you this evening?"  
  
"Fine, dear. And how are you two?"  
  
"Oh, we're doing alright," Xander said. "We brought you a little something!"  
  
Joyce raised one eyebrow curiously. "Oh?"  
  
Willow produced a small bouquet of flowers from behind her back. "Surprise! Hope you like them."  
  
Joyce was surprised and pleased at the same time. "Thank you Willow, Xander. They're quite lovely. Why don't you come inside and I'll put these flowers in a vase." Joyce led the two teens into the kitchen where Buffy was just finishing up with the dishes. She greeted her friends while Joyce pulled s tall blue vase out of a cupboard, filled it with water, and placed the flowers in it. "So what occation do I owe this wonderful gift?"  
  
Xander and Willow breifly glanced at eachother. "What?" Xander asked. "We can't surprise our favorite mom with a little gift on occation without being suspected of something? Honestly, what is the world coming to these days?"  
  
"Uh huh," Joyce said skeptically. "Well, thank you. I'd better head down to the Gallery now. The art show begins in one hour and we still have some final touches to make. Have fun studying kids!"  
  
Willow and Xander simultaniously entrapped Joyce in a large hug. "We will, Joyce! It was nice to see you!"  
  
"Umm, thanks. It was great to see you too," she replied as she crossed the threshold of her house. Buffy could have sworn she heard Joyce muttering "What is WITH people today?" as she closed the front door.  
  
The three friends stood in the livingroom in silence for a few moments. Finally, Willow spoke up. "So, Shakespeare, huh?"  
  
Buffy diverted her attention to her friend. "Well, about that..." she began. Willow threw her a look, sensing that she wouldn't like whatever it was her friend was about to say. "I was just thinking a minute ago. In a week from today we're going to be gone, right? I mean, either we find a way back to our own time or we go poof! So really I shouldn't have to do any homework at all because it won't matter. Right?"  
  
"Sounds good to me, Buffster!" Xander agreed.  
  
Willow looked at her disbelievingly. "But Buffy," she protested. "Don't you want to learn? You've been given this oportunity to learn about a fantastic play that you missed out on the first time around. Besides, an education is important, and I know you'll just really love the story if you get into it."  
  
Buffy realized she'd have to use different tactics if she wanted to get anywhere with her friend. Willow was close to making her famous puppy-dog eyes and Buffy knew that once those eyes were made there'd be little hope of her getting off the hook. "I'd like to read it, Wills. Really, I would. I just feel that right now it isn't on the top of our list of priorities. I mean, there's the slaying, and we have to find Spike, and we only have a week to get back home. Less than that even because we've already used up most of today and we're getting no where."  
  
After a moment of internal arguing Willow relented. "Alright, I guess you have a point. But when we get back to our own time I'm forcing you to AT LEAST watch the movie."  
  
"Agreed," Buffy said with a smile. "You guys ready to patrol? Who knows, maybe we'll find out something useful from one of the local baddies."  
  
A/N: I'm so proud of myself! It only took me a very few days to update! However, I haven't gotten hardly any reviews lately and that's kind of discouraging. Somebody please review! I don't even care what you say. This chapter wasn't all that bad either. My vocabulary was a little better I think. Please excuse any spelling errors; I don't have time to use spell check before I post. Ack, this note is starting to get a little long. You guys are going to stop reading them if I keep rambling forever.  
  
Disclaimer: Obviously nothing has changed since my last dislcaimer. I still don't own Spike or anyone else. 


End file.
